Entropy
by SeraSearaSpin
Summary: At the end of the world, Uta and his band of jokers are left to admire their handiwork, and who would find out about it but Yomo and Touka. Starts at the end of the first manga.
1. Chapter 1

_**Spoilers until the end of the manga, so if you're not there yet, then get out quick.**_

**(or don't but i warned you) So the manga ended. I can't handle life anymore goodbye **

**vote tokyo ghoul as "biggest fucking plot twist" manga and uta as "I HAVE NO WORDS FOR SCUM LIKE YOU" 2k14 pls (except Pierrot is actually kind of interesting, or maybe that's just me)**

**And what is plot for this? it's like stealing 143 and making it more words..what is tokyo ghoul why can't kaneki be happy whAT IS LIFE**

****Edit: The above was written almost as soon as I finished the manga, so I was rather emotional about it. That's my only excuse. **

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><p>At the moment, they were five, gathered round the back room tables of Helter Skelter, and there was never a more merry crew of clowns.<p>

Itori was in her chair in a haphazard sprawl, one hand daintily holding a glass of blood. "According to my information," she drawled, "The CCG now want total annihilation. They even say that Cochlea's empty." She gestured wildly, and a bit of blood spilled on her generous bosom.

Souta reached over and tickled Roma, who burst into hysterical laughter. "You like Kaneki, don't you?" Souta crooned.

"I do!" volunteered Nico, rubbing his chin. Behind him, Itori downed the glass sloppily, heedless of the blood dripping from the corners of her mouth.

Roma regained her composure, flicking away a few tears of mirth. "Yeah, but I wanted to see something much more depressing." She rested her chin on her hand and stared almost dreamily at a dark mirror, perhaps imagining many gruesome ends for the fallen ghoul.

Uta rolled an ocular orb from hand to hand. "Nowadays, tragedies aren't that popular." It was cool in his palm, a little sticky, but definitely still tasty. He changed position and brought it up to his tongue, caressing the surface with it. At the same time, he reached inside his jacket (unbuttoned since this was informal, displaying the intricate ink he was so proud of) and found the old, familiar mask that had been next to his heart for the past array of years.

"Why don't we have some more fun?" He thought of the Pierrots in the fourth ward, their masks cluttering up his memory, and he smiled.

"Even now, we've already destroyed this place," Itori breathed, grinning grotesquely wide. "Just _look_ at the war we caused!" The cadavers and malformed corpses were still being hastily hauled off the streets by harried CCG investigators, or people who simply had no time. And that wasn't even counting those who took the corpses to deep dark dens and devoured them.

"Yes, and despite Yamori's death, we've had a marvelous experience so far!" Nico rubbed his chin again.

"I feel like I made the best move," Souta began, holding his hands out, "when I shoved the bars onto Rize." He broke off into a delighted laugh. "I mean, that was the catalyst, wasn't it?"

"Only because I told you to," reprimanded Uta lightly, still fondling the disembodied eye. "But yes, it was. Ah, the horror that Kaneki lived...it certainly was one of those unpopular tragedies." He felt a senseless urge to chuckle, and did. It was low and malevolent, nothing like the Uta he showed to the world.

Roma's gaze sharpened on him. "Ah, Uta, what was it like to have Kaneki trust you while you manipulated him?"

"Hn." Uta rested his chin on his hand. "Well, it was amazing, to be honest. A person with that sort of power, you couldn't help feeling a little bad for him. But at the same time he was so _naive!_ It was refreshing, I'll tell you."

"Interesting, right?" Now Roma's mask was on her face, her hair sticking up like the fringe of a radish.

"Indubitably," replied Souta. He'd never taken off his mask.

"I've growing a beard!" cheered Nico, pointing at the stubble on his chin, and there was mingled applause and sighs.

"Are we going out again?" Itori rummaged around for her own mask. "Ah, what _fun_!"

Uta's face contorted into a smile behind his mas, though nobody would ever see it. "It has been a while, but better safe than sorry, right?"

"The ones who get the last laugh..." began Itori, sliding the wicked mask onto her refined features.

"...will be us, the Pierot!" crowed Uta, repeating the oft-spoken phrase unique to his group of friends.

Within moments, their back room was empty once more.


	2. Chapter 2

**After a little thought, I've decided to expand upon this, because just having a part of chapter 143 in story form instead of manga form is kinda lame, don't you agree? Plus, I was kind of planning a separate fic where Yomo confronts Uta anyway, so this works out well.**

**Oh, speaking of our-now-hated-by-most-maskmaker, there's a theory going around that he's a kajuka, too. Kaneki didn't get black nails until he started eating Jason. In the scenes about Uta's past, his nails are black. Uta didn't use his kagune at Aogiri, and he has the black nails. Just saying.**

**Here's a speck of _good_ news: On Touka's full-color page on the end, on her hoodie, it clearly says "See you next." That is my only hope. **

**The one thing that upsets me most: Amon and Kaneki never got to talk it out. However, considering that Aogiri hauled in a bunch of dead or dying CCG people, there's a high chance that Amon's sitting in a tank somewhere, about to get Yoshimura's organs implanted into him. So maybe, _maybe,_ if there's a sequel and Kaneki somehow lives, they might be able to._  
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**Review! :D**

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><p>She was sleeping, curled up on the floor in Helter Skelter. Yomo had let her in, because she'd wanted to be alone, and he assumed Uta wouldn't mind her presence there once he got back from wherever he'd been. The imposing ghoul informed her that he'd be back tomorrow. They could start the careful reparations then. But right now, it was understandable. They all wanted a break.<p>

"I'll see you tomorrow," said Yomo in his normal gruff manner. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" At that, Touka almost wanted to burst into tears. "Don't ask stupid questions," she said, unwilling to look at him, and then closed the door behind her. The lights were off. The bar looked deserted. A few empty glasses stood by a sink, and Touka managed to make it all of six steps before wavering, feeling unsteady, and then sinking down against the wall, her face in her hands.

_I hope you never come back to Anteiku. _She'd said that to him, in nothing but brash, horrible anger, words of bitter poison branding his skin. _Never come back. _How could she have been so ungrateful? Anger had always ruled her, but now he was gone, and the hopeful words spoken in the aquamarine afternoon felt stupid and naive now.

There were tears on her face, and she lied to herself weakly by saying it was only leftovers from the rain, she wouldn't cry about _that_ _bastard,_ he didn't deserve it, she wasn't mourning him-

And then she broke into full-on sobs, the kind that wracked her body with spams as if aftershocks, and crawled behind the bar to hide her misery from the world. _At least no one can see me here,_ she thought darkly, and, feeling the loss of Kaneki as keenly as if a knife had pierced her heart, somehow managed to sleep.

What felt like seconds later, she was awoken by boisterous laughter, emanating from the back room. Rubbing sleep and the gummy remains of tears from her eyes, she rose to her feet and cocked her head, trying to find the source of the sound. There was a muted chatter, occasionally interspersed with more laughter, rising from the back rooms, and she recognized Uta's voice, light, caressing, saying something about a tragedy. _Ah, so he's back. _

After a few moments, Itori's voice was also distinguishable, and was that...Roma? The clumsy ghoul who'd also worked at Anteiku? The converstaion flowed easily, and she caught it in snatches. She was about to push the door open and announce her presence when a voice she didn't recognize spoke up.

"...when I shoved the bars onto Rize." A laugh. "I mean, that was the catalyst, wasn't it?"

Touka suddenly went cold all over, sleepiness gone. _Kaneki once told me...the only way he'd survived his encounter with Rize was the bars suddenly falling. But that also screwed up his entire life. If it hadn't been for that, he wouldn't be...missing now. He would've been normal, successful. Though he surely couldn't've have known that it would cause these effects, __Kaneki's hideous life is_ your _fault._

Another thought came to her. _Uta is associating with this person. Does that mean he's not to be trusted?_

"Only because I told you to," reciprocated said ghoul. "But yes, it was. Ah, the horror that Kaneki lived...it certainly was one of those unpopular tragedies." There was an almost sinister chuckle, but that went unheeded by the ukaku ghoul.

_Uta is behind all this. Uta. _Uta,_ of all people, is responsible for this._

Another snippet of conversation: "...manipulating Kaneki?"

_That's what they were doing. Manipulating him. Itori, Roma, _Uta. _I trusted them. _

Her eyes felt hot and angry, and the red bloom of her kakugan glistened in the darkness. _I'll kill you. I swear I will. _Her wing started blooming from her back, casting flickering red shadows on the walls. However, her common sense intervened as she reached for the doorknob. _You really think you can take on four or five ghouls and win? Pathetic. _

In any case, the decision was made for her when the ghouls rose in unison and made for the door. She had just enough time to dive back behind the bar again and conceal her kagune before the masked figures streaked out, cackling like madmen. "Ah, the places we'll go!" A vicious croon, and then the phrase was picked up by another. "The adventures we'll have!" "Ah, how could it ever top this round?" "We'll have to make it so!" "Ah, chaos, the domain of Pierrots, and we will always-"

Touka didn't get to hear what they'd always have, as the door slammed shut behind them, and the sound was cut off. Her thoughts were scrambled. _Roma? Itori? Uta? They really did it, didn't they. Pierrots, huh...is that the name of their gang? Pierrots. Like mimes or clowns, right? Clowns...there was the incident with the clown gang in the 4th ward. I think Uta came from the 4th ward. How long...?__  
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_Yomo will know. I've got to tell him._

Against the clamoring of her instinct, she settled back down behind the bar again. _I don't know where he is right now, and he said he'd come and get me tomorrow. I'll have to wait. _

She sighed and shifted into a more comfortable position.

_And then, we will exterminate these Pierrots. _


	3. Chapter 3

**I took the time to plan out the plot of this story, and it'll definitely be interesting. And it'll take forever, won't it be great...**

**Ah, and this is getting a lot of attention, too, more so than I would expect. That's nice of you =v= though I should warn you that most of these chapters are typed somewhere between midnight and 6 in the morning, so it's not the best quality work. HOWEVER FOR BEST QUALITY WORK YOU CAN READ MY OTHER STORIES :D _/shameless_**

**Really, though, thanks for reading. We'll be in for a ride.**

**Review! :D**

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><p>"Good morning, Touka," said Yomo, and that woke her up from her huddled position.<p>

He held out a hand to her, and she took it, feeling stiff and a little chilly. "Good morning..."

Then she was slammed by last night's events- _Uta. You lied. Uta, you goddamn liar. Because of you, Kaneki's gone. You, Itori, Roma, and whoever else. It's because of you that we're in this mess. If it wasn't for you, Anteiku would still be all right. But because you simply wanted to _play-

This all must have shown in some form on her face, Yomo was scrutinizing her, only the line between his brows giving away his worry. "What is it?"

"Uta's a bastard," she said, voice soft, yet redolent with anger. Then again. "Uta's a goddamn bastard."

Yomo cocked his head to one side. "Did something happen?"

Touka pulled him inside and almost shoved him into a chair, popping her head outside and surveying the area cautiously before slamming the door and yanking Yomo into the back room Uta's Pierrots had used not even twelve hours ago. "Yes, something happened." Exasperated.

"I think you're overreacting a little." Yomo frowned, reached for the door handle.

"I'm _not!_" Now her voice stepped into a high shriek. Yomo stopped in his tracks, and Touka added, "Just shut up and listen for a minute, okay?" The tall man turned around, one eyebrow raised at her outburst. "I'm listening."

Touka inhaled. "Right, so last night I slept here. Behind the bar, so nobody would look in the window and wonder what some girl was doing. And I overheard people in the back room...I recognized Uta's voice, Itori's voice, Roma's voice...the other two were unfamiliar. And Uta stated very clearly that he was manipulating Kaneki through this tragedy, and Itori wouldn't stop _laughing_, and one of the others was the one that shoved the bars onto Kaneki, he said so himself. And - what?"

Yomo's face had grown tight and brittle. "Damn him. I thought he was done with this. I knew about his Pierrots, a little...but that was four years ago, and he'd promised me he'd stop and pull out. But he _lied._" His hands, loose at his sides, suddenly clenched into fists. "He said it straight up to my face, 'If that's what you want, then I'll cease my meddling.' A lie."

Seeing Yomo angry scared her. Within her life, Yomo had been one of the many anchors she'd relied on. Many times, when her volatile anger had gotten her into tight situations, Yomo had swept in and taken her out of it. Not without some sort of reprimand, of course, but she relied on him. He was never angry, never was much in the way of emotion, had done the majority of her training, and now here he was. Even his composed shell was sprouting cracks. Uta's betrayal was like a bomb in the ruins of their lives.

(_And what she'd really wanted was for Yomo to tell her she'd misunderstood, that it was a mistake, and she was silly to be so reckless in making stupid assumptions, but it seemed like even unshakable Yomo was taken by surprise) _

"Then let's go kill him," Touka blurted out. It was a simple solution to getting rid of the traitor, one that was so obvious it glared her in the face, shouting _This should've been your first thought! _When secretly, deep down inside, she felt disgusted with herself for turning on him so quickly.

(_but it's necessary, isn't it?_)_  
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"I'll take care of it, Touka." The anger was neatly packaged away again, and Yomo was once more his indomitable self.

"But-"

"No buts. This is my problem, and I should've taken care of it years ago. The blame for this rests entirely on me." And his face, illuminated only in a collection of edges by the morning light, suddenly looked centuries old.

"I also want to fight." Touka's voice was strong and clear. "I'll help you, and you can't stop me."

Yomo turned slowly, said in an almost gentle voice, "No." And then when Touka opened her mouth to protest, he grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her hard against the wall. The breath whooshed out of her lungs, only partially in surprise. Winded, she tried to complain, but Yomo cut her off with a dismissive shake of his head.

"This is my problem, my responsibility, and I will not have others blundering into this mess when I'm the only one who needs to fight."

"But-"

"I said, _no buts, _Touka." His voice seemed to be thundering in her ears, along with her furious heart rate. "I will keep you out of this fight at all costs. If I have to break every bone in your body and chain you to a post, then so be it. But I'd really rather not expend the energy on that." With a small thrill of fear, she noticed that his eyes were gleaming red.

Then he sighed and rubbed a hand along his face, and when she looked again, they were back to normal. He released her, and she sulkily rubbed her arms where he'd grabbed them. _I'll probably have bruises there. Thanks, stupid Yomo. _

"Now, don't follow me. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," she mumbled sourly, avoiding his eyes.

"I said, _do you understand._" Thick fingers forced her chin up, until she was unwillingly staring straight at those ruby red kakugan, revived from their slumber by his rage.

"I said yes already! Jeez, now let me go!" Touka squirmed out of his grasp.

"I'm trusting you with this, Touka. Betray my trust, and you might not like the me you find then." Yomo turned away, ignoring the rude face she pulled at his retreating back, and a moment later, she heard him leave. The front door of Helter Skelter jingled as he closed it.

"Hmph," she muttered, brushing imaginary dust off her clothing. "If I can't hunt Uta with Yomo, I guess I'd better find the others. Maybe Hinami is still around." The thought of the little girl who'd become like a younger sister to her made her mood brighten. "Yeah, I guess I'll do that...but once we're all together again, we're going to go after Uta, whether Yomo likes it or not."

When she smiled, she didn't look human anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm later than I wanted to be with this chapter. School's beating me about the head with a stick.**

**Now for some good news; the manga's getting a sequel. ****(pause for incoherent screaming) ****It's called Tokyo Ghoul:Re. The fact that there's a confirmed sequel relegates this story to AU status. Who knows, I might've pulled something awful and predicted the next story down to the letter, though I doubt it. Because I never planned to include a character like Haise. Or Urie, or the sharkboy. It's a mystery. **

**I've noticed that the majority of the reviewers want death to the Pierrot and for the miraculous resurrection of Kaneki. To be honest (and to bring down the flames of hatred upon myself, probably), I like Pierrot. They serve no organization, from Anteiku to Aogiri to the CCG, and all they want to do is fuck shit up. I'm sure half of the tragedies in this series could be traced back to Pierrot in some way. It's actually very interesting for me to see how far their influence spreads...but then again, I've always been a sucker for asshole villains. So that's just me. **

**Anyways, r****eview :D**

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><p>It had started out as a sunny day, crisp, briskly chilly, but all the sun in the world wouldn't make Yomo feel any warmer inside.<p>

_He's a liar - traitor - stupid - so stupid - why didn't you notice? _

A little reel, insults directed at both himself and Uta, playing on loop in his head. His features were implacable as ever, completely obscuring the feeling of betrayal like a knife, or the stalagmite of an ukaku kagune. The old rage he'd spent so long tamping down was rearing its ugly head again, and he wasn't sure if he could rein it back. It'd been _so long_ since he'd allowed himself to rampage, and the idea was seeming more and more satisfactory with every step he took. _Just a little, right? A little more chaos couldn't possibly causing anything worse to happen._

_Except, _he told himself. _Except that'd be undoing all of Yoshimura's hard work. The hours he invested in shaping me into a more respectable person would be ripped to rags; if I raged, I don't think I would be able to return to this state. And Touka is relying on my not to change. I could see it in her face; even a little of this anger scared her. I think_ I _scared her, even more so than everything else that happened. Even if she doesn't admit it to herself... Already the rage is ruining whatever remains of my life._

That was how he was thinking of it; _the rage._ An unstoppable force, dammed up for what felt like decades. Easily forgettable, but quick to rise if anything happened. That was why he distanced himself. Getting too close to anyone - in this twisted, wrong world of theirs, anyone and everyone was liable to vulnerability, and his was caring far too much for others, even when he purposely left cold blank spaces in their conversations. There were a few people he trusted, true, and a few people he came to care for - but now they were gone, scattered like so many dead leaves in the wind when Anteiku was raided.

Ghouls spread left and right. Hinami. Touka. Yoshimura. Banjou and his crew. Nishiki. Kaneki. Uta. _  
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_Uta... _And that brought him full circle. He was going to find him; the traitor masquerading as his best friend, and he was going to attack, beat him, pin him down and taste the salty blood in his mouth, and ask him nothing but the simplest question. _Why. _

By now, Yomo was in a familiar area - the wide lot between two buildings in a mostly abandoned ward, now overgrown with brownish vegetation. Where he'd confronted Arima, and was saved. _What had Uta done then? _

_As I remember, nothing. He never tried to find me. It was an accident that we'd met at all again, really - one of the people he'd run with, his pierrots, walked in and saw me. I don't believed I recognized him - must've been Souta, then - but he reported to Uta, and we established our relations again. What a farce. _

He stood in the center of the lot, a resolute figure, and he waited. _I'll take care of this. That's what I said to Touka; what I drilled into her head. Kill him, she said. Like it was the easiest thing in the world._

_Would I be able to kill him? _

His jaw tightened.

_I'll have to be. _

As if summoned by his dark thoughts, there were footsteps. Soft ones, quiet, reminiscent of a predator sneaking up on its prey, and Yomo recognized them immediately. Not bothering to hide himself, he spoke up.

"Decided to pay me a visit, eh?" His voice hinted at the barest hints of his old destructive rage. There was no point in beating around the bush; better get straight to it.

The padding footsteps stopped briefly, and then the mocking laughter he'd become accustomed to rang out. "Ah, Yomo, Yomo, Yomo, come to deal justice to the Pierrots." The tips of Uta's shoes poked beyond the wall, and the rest of him followed a moment later. Decked out in dark sunglasses, some sort of knit cap, and a high-collared jacket, his old friend was still stylish. "Long time no see, friend!"

Yomo noticed that Uta didn't move towards him at all. His temper started building again, and he swallowed it, with effort. _You can go stupid with fury, and it won't do anyone a damn bit of good. _"I'm not your friend."

"Oh, right, you finally figured it out, have you? The information must've been drubbed through your silly stubborn head. Touka probably did it, did she not? Where is that girl, anyway? I miss her. Maybe I could pay her a visit, later." The maskmaker smiled.

He thought he'd been used to Uta's scathing humor, but then again, during those years, the majority of that derisive tone had not been directed towards him. It stung a little, and Yomo frowned.

"Don't hurt her, you don't have a reason to," he said, mustering a reasonable voice.

"I've never had a reason!" crowed Uta suddenly, flinging his arms up in apparent delight. "My life has been a despicable tangle of finding people's triggers and winding up as if they were bombs, and then detonating!" He performed an almost balletic pirouette. "You would not _believe_-"

"Whose side are you on?" Yomo's voice was low and grating, and a little smidgen of it was jealousy. His own tongue was never that sharp; couldn't send intelligent, barbed insults, or describe things with that sort of language. The argument could be made that Yomo was more brains than brawn, but Yomo was both intelligent _and_ strong. Uta had never really used his full strength, though, and his wit was like the blade of a knife at times, so the metaphor flopped. Perhaps they were equal.

Diverting his thoughts from snippets of nonsense, he growled, "Tell me!"

"Haven't you gotten the memo? I am on no one's side. I serve my own ends, my friends serve my ends. It's excellent." Uta turned to leave. "Now, good talk-"

"This wasn't a coincidence, was it, Uta?"

Though the larger ghoul couldn't see his features, an insidious smile was curving the maskmaker's mouth into a burlesque villian's grin. "Now, what would make you think that you're that important to me?" He turned his head slightly, enough to catch a hurt expression flit across Yomo's face and disappear. "It wasn't you that I came to see."

"Who was it?" Yomo's voice had roughened even more, a combination of the (_monster) _rage and the betrayal dragging it into a lower octave.

"Oh, they're not here yet." Uta's tone was light, almost playful, in stark contrast to their circumstances.

"That doesn't really answer my question."

"It's none of your concern, really."

He turned to see Yomo hurtling towards him, kakugan flaring and bristling with the spires of his kagune, and met him in midair.


	5. Chapter 5

**The only reference I have for Yomo's kagune - I'm almost 100% sure he's ukaku, just putting it out there - is his fight with Arima when he was younger. There's theories going around that he's a kajuka too, but Uta's theory of kajukaness I feel is more supported by random evidence than a careless set of rumors saying that Yomo once started cannibalizing in the fourth ward.**

**Review! :D**

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><p>Yomo was expecting a collision. He was not expecting Uta to somehow cease his velocity mid-jump and dance lightly to one side, the barest hint of a mocking smirk gracing his features. Yomo sailed past like an ungainly bear, but was quick to recover, giving himself an extra push off the ground to increase his momentum. A few steps on the wall - one, two, flip over the maskmaker's head and land somewhat gracefully behind him.<p>

Without a moment's hesitation, he brought his kagune around in a spiraling, dangerous swoop of red and black. It looked as if a stained-glass window depicting hell had exploded into dangerous fragments that could pierce someone straight through the middle.

Uta simply capered out of the way, watching with something like smug amusement as the hail of arm-length shards embedded themselves in one of the surrounding walls and rebounded to rejoin the tornado of Yomo's kagune. "Are you going to waste my time with this sort of foreplay? Should I leave? I was expecting a good fight."

Yomo was moving in a manner that was rather hard to describe, but a word that came close to it was 'stalking', as in a predator stalking its prey. His kakugan burned brightly, and the faint iridescence that glittered and glistened over the pinnacles of the kagune cast slippery scarlet shapes on the ground. "I don't have time for your silver tongue, Uta. I mean to end it here."

"You may be disappointed, then." Now Uta's voice was low and agreeable, almost casually condescending, and the rage tightened its grip on him. _The bastard isn't even bothering to turn to keep me in his view; is that how little he thinks of me?_ And the rage briefly subsided under an arrow of hurt.

"Running would be cowardly," Yomo snarled, still moving. "Would you not feel better if you turned and fought as well?" On 'fought', Yomo twisted his kagune into a whip-like shape and swept it towards Uta's legs, intending to upend the man and take care of him from there. But once again, Uta simply ghosted out of his reach, watching apathetically as bricks cracked and dust flew.

"You need to be more coordinated," advised Uta, who studied the cracks with great interest. "I think - "

There was a sense of movement once more, and Uta turned in time to see Yomo flying in again, kagune blazing, and the first punch clipped his ear, the next, meant to hit his stomach and wind him nearly hitting its mark.

"Clever, Yomo. You'd gotten me to divert my attention from your physical attack." Now he was grinning the same grin he'd always seemed to have stashed away on him somewhere - a wide, ear-to-ear grin that, when bent on others, would cause them to smile back for reasons they themselves didn't understand. It brought back bittersweet memories of an adolescence spent in the fourth ward with him (_full of lies, lies, Uta had lied, was a liar - )_

"Glad to see you approve," snapped the ukaku ghoul sarcastically, and in the process of flipping out of reach, attempted to kick his ex-friend in the chin, though he didn't expect it to connect. As fast as Yomo was, it seemed like Uta was faster.

However, since he was banking on Uta's neutrality and refusal to retaliate so far (_some secret heart inside was hoping that Uta refused to fight him so he would not hurt him, because friends don't hurt each other, is that right?_), he was completely unprepared when Uta grabbed his foot, halting its motion, and _threw_ him across the yard.

He had a moment to think _what, _and then to use his kagune to stop himself from going through the wall. The impact still jarred his back, despite the extra cushioning (_it couldn't really be called cushioning; there was nothing remotely soft about his kagune, it still bristled and jostled), _and he grunted and regained his feet, ready for anything.

Uta was walking towards the street now. It was markedly darker there; the taller buildings overshadowing the road, casting it in shades of gray. The maskmaker didn't bother to cast a dismissive glare over his shoulder, and Yomo seethed. "Why are you so angry, Yomo?" called out his opponent in a light, offhand voice. "As they say, 'Hate and anger to the dark side only lead.'"_  
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At that, his rage expanded, as if there had been a balloon and it had burst. It spread like wildfire through him, the inner box he'd kept that volatile thing stuffed into now twisted and broken, the lock shattered, he saw red when the rising tide of rage reached his eyes. "I'll take that dark side if it means I can revenge upon you."

Without another thought, Yomo shoved off the wall with enough force to splinter it, nearly flew across the yard with ukaku-enhanced speed, far too furious to even think about the eventual, inevitable exhaustion, kagune a tsunami of splinters like brilliant pyrophanite. Uta turned, too slowly, and a mad vicious exultation rose up inside of him, the thrill of the hunt that he'd forgotten at Yoshimura's bidding. _Let the old man see you and despair, _hissed the voice of the frenzy. _These are new times, he's outdated, and this feeling of fireworks, how could that have ever faded from your memory?__  
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Not even Touka would have recognized him now; his face was distorted in a rictus of something very close to madness.

And as Yomo neared, he saw that Uta was smiling, he was _smiling, why was he smiling? He's about to die, I'm about to eviscerate him, vivisect him, orbitoclasts and maxillectonomy to disfigure that lying face - _

From the obscurity of the street, he saw the faintest hint of a clown's smile from directly above Uta, and then there was a ringing _!CLANG! _that seemed to reverberate inside his mind. His forward motion sent him stumbling a few more steps and then drove him to his knees. Blazing kakugan reverted back to dazed gray irises.

A ghoul in a clown mask materialized out of the dark next to Uta, smiling and holding the length of metal he'd just smacked Yomo with. "Good job, Souta," said Uta in a voice that seemed to be receding town a tunnel. _Souta..._the name rang a bell. _One of his Pierrots, I assume. I knew him once. _"I was wondering when you'd get here."

Souta shrugged. "I had to avoid some CCG. They're doing an excellent job on the cleanup, by the way."

"Hm." Through blurring vision, Yomo saw Uta turn his back. "Well, you're here now. I guess we'll have to palaver somewhere else."

"Right." And then, addressed to Yomo, "Sorry, old chum, but we seem to have diverging interests."

The pole came down again and the kneeling ghoul lost consciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

**Have you heard of of Kenshi Yonezu (also known as Vocaloid producer Hachi)? I suggest you look him up; his songs have rapidly become some of my favorite listening material. This particular chapter was composed with Eine Kleine on repeat, though the themes in that song don't really fit this chapter. **

**Review! :D**

* * *

><p>It had been sunny earlier, but now it was overcast. The air was almost tangibly crisp, and Touka made sure to pull on a jacket before leaving Helter Skelter. She didn't really know where she was going, but she had an idea that she'd stop off for coffee somewhere (<em>and try not to cry<em>) and come up with some sort of battle plan, maybe.

With her hood pulled over her head, she could almost be any other human, a normal person. She wouldn't have to worry about the growling in her stomach, the clamor for meat, and her mind would probably be bent on the next exam at school, or some sort of relationship issue. Not _this_ - the terrible sense of loss, the hunger. The worry.

_He'd be able to describe these feelings much more accurately than I ever would,_ she thought wryly, and then suddenly looked at the sky so her eyes wouln't overflow. _Stupid Kaneki,_ she thought with no real feeling behind it. _Look what you're doing._

As she swung her head back to face the road, her eyes focused on a sign for half a second, and picked out one word in particular; _coffee._ "That works out well," she muttered, to herself, and, watching for traffic, crossed the road. Halfway across, she recognized a familiar tawny head, and, heart quickening, increased her pace until she was a few feet away from him. She didn't dare to walk in front of him, in case he wasn't Nishiki, and if a not-Nishiki turned to see a strange girl staring at him, it'd definitely be embarrassing.

"Nishiki?" Touka hovered uncertainly behind him, clenching her fists so she wouldn't lose her nerve. It was a strange thing; she'd known him for so long, but even a week of estrangement might've put them at odds again. (_But it's not only that; the fragile feeling, a thin pane of glass that might break her into tears if she probed at it too hard. The fragility; a weakness, and she hated it)_

A surge of relief went through her as he turned, and it indeed was him. "Ah, shitty Touka, you've crawled out of your hole, have you?" Though the words were harsh, his voice was warm, if a little hoarse. It was a sharp contrast to his appearance; though it'd barely been all that long since she'd last seen him, he was thinner, paler. Exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes. His coffee was untouched, and his slim fingers played the side of the table like a piano.

All this she noticed in a moment, but she pretended not to. Instead, she slid into the seat across from him, beckoned to the waiter, and ordered. A few minutes passed in a not-quite-tense silence, and Nishiki turned his eyes to a point beyond her. His fingers rapped out a toneless melody against the table.

Touka leaned forwards, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Nishiki, are you all right?"

It was a completely perfunctory question; perhaps that's what shook him out of his daze. His eyes lost their faraway quality and focused on her. "I've...I've been better, I can say that much. I've not been able to hunt in this ward recently. The amount of CCG is just too much, and they've erected blockades around the ward. And I've got to protect Kimi from other ghouls who've also been trapped in here by the blockades."

They both went silent as the waiter returned, deposited Touka's coffee, and left with a reasonable tip. (_what i wouldn't give for a happy life like his_)_  
><em>

"Wait, didn't you and Kimi..." She trailed off, unwilling to say it.

"Yeah." Nishiki looked away. _Tap tap tap._ "It was for her own safety. I was going to go, but I waited too long, and I'd gone through all the motions of l- of taking a _vacation_ already...to leave, and then to go back would be criminal. I don't want to break her heart any more than I already have." He looked up, eyes dark. "But that doesn't mean I won't protect her with every breath left in my body." His dancing fingers briefly stilled, and then left the table entirely to take a gulp of coffee.

He made a face. "Tastes like shit."

Touka smiled a little, but then her face grew solemn. "If I were to load you down with more bad news, would you be all right with that?"

Nishiki cocked his head, perplexed at her diffident attitude. "I suppose so? What sort of bad news?"

The ukaku ghoul bit her lip and sipped her coffee, postponing her response. "Uta betrayed us. He orchestrated everything, he messed up Kaneki's life. _He_ was the one who told a clown to go push the steel bars onto him and crushing Rize. And it's all spiraled downhill from there."

Nishiki's response was instant disbelief. Unlike Yomo, he'd not had the prior experience. "You're kidding me."

Touka shook her head. "As much as I wish I was, I overheard them. They spoke of it as if it were nothing_._" She curled her hands into fists. "The destruction of Kaneki's entire life, as a _game. As if it were fun._" Her fists hit the table, and she stood up, heedless of the stares going her way. "You can believe whatever you want, but I know what I'm doing. I'm going to find him."

There it was, her brilliant idea out in the air, sounding stupider than ever, but that inbred stubbornness refused to let her back down. It was all she could do to keep her eyes from flickering red and black. Her kagune pushed at her shoulder blade and subsided. (_weakness; inability to harness your rage, and the angry words spat at him that day were yours) _

"Jeez, Touka, I never said I didn't believe you." Nishiki's voice was conciliatory, and he held up his hands in surrender. "You have no reason to lie." The ukaku ghoul subsided back into her seat, and the strange looks were taken elsewhere. "Yomo seems like he know more about Uta than he's saying," she blurted, and then snapped her mouth shut.

"My question is, _how_ are you going to find him." Touka noticed how he chose to address Kaneki's disappearance first, dismissing the issue of the Pierrots for the time being. She didn't blame him; she would likely do the same. Uta had been a part of their Anteiku family for a long time with Yomo, and this rude awakening had every reason for doubt. If she hadn't heard it straight from the source, she wouldn't have believed it herself.

But Kaneki was the nail that held their dysfunctional family together, the glue in the cracks, and without him, none of them would really be the friends that they were now. He was someone to think of, to dream of, like a memory of brighter times, and now that he was gone, the well-cemented relationships would slowly crumble apart. (_and we all love him._) It was easier to vow to save him than to consider what Uta and the others had done.

"You don't think he's actually dead, do you?" Touka narrowed her eyes at him, putting on a brash show, but secretly terrified that no one else would believe her. (_he'd gone into the field of corpseflowers alone with the reaper, or so the rumors go)_

"Kaneki wouldn't go and die on us," said Nishiki confidently. "The CCG may have him, but he's not the sort to give in like that. We'll be able to find him. Speaking of that, previous question still stands."

His confidence reassured her, and a little bit of tension drained out. "Well..." An idea popped into her head with all the suddenness of a lightbulb springing into existence. She straightened. "Ah! Tsukiyama! He has a good nose, doesn't he?"

"Sure he does." Nishiki wasn't sharing her excitement, and she belatedly remembered what the Gourmet ghoul had almost done to his girlfriend - _ex-girlfriend, keep that in mind so you don't mess it up for him - _

"We could get him something of Kaneki's, and I'm sure he'd be happy to help us look."

Nishiki bowed his head, considering, and after a pregnant pause, finally replied. "If there is no other way to find Kaneki, then, yes, I'll work with him for now. But, where is he?"

"We could probably find out pretty easily," offered Touka. "It can't be that hard to find a crying man in a bad suit."

Nishiki was startled into a smile, and no matter how fleeting, it gave his weary features a softer edge. "Well, I suppose not." He gulped down the last of the "shit coffee" and pushed his chair back. "Starting now, it'll just be us two, the shitty pair, to find a catatonic drama queen in a suit, is that right?"

Touka jolted, nearly knocked over her coffee, steadied it, and looked up at him. "What do you mean, he's catatonic? I thought he'd just - "

Nishiki shrugged. "He took Kaneki's loss...very hard. All the passion he'd had exploded on him in that moment, I guess, and he collapsed. He hasn't moved since, though someone else might've removed him to a different place."

Touka raised an eyebrow. "And you know this how?"

"I went to see him, once or twice. With that 99% extermination rate, it wasn't safe for either of us." He chewed his lip. "It's still not safe, but you've figured that out. He's probably still close to the roof..."

Touka stood as well. "Well, there's our first lead." She lifted her coffee (_warm, sweetened with more sugar than she'd admit) _in one hand, and it steamed in the crisp air. "Where's this building you mentioned?"


End file.
